common
belonging to or participated in by a community as a whole; public
How often you will meet it
Rank 638 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 29,959 times across 155,168 chapters — 0.014% of every word in the library.
It belongs to the first 1,000 words, the band worth learning before any other.
What it means
adjective
- belonging to or participated in by a community as a whole; public for the common goodcommon lands are set aside for use by all members of a community
- having no special distinction or quality; widely known or commonly encountered; average or ordinary or usual the common mana common sailor
- common to or shared by two or more parties also: mutual a common friendthe mutual interests of management and labor
- commonly encountered also: usual a common (or familiar) complaintthe usual greeting
- being or characteristic of or appropriate to everyday language also: vernacular, vulgar common parlancea vernacular term
- of or associated with the great masses of people also: plebeian, vulgar, unwashed the common people in those days suffered greatlybehavior that branded him as common
common in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
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The voice was vulgar, the motion common.
Other People's Money · Emile Gaboriau · Chapter 1
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Ye wouldna gie her a common or a public spot in which to wait for ye.
The Valley of the Giants · Peter B. (Peter Bernard) Kyne · Chapter 1
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Yet the work of Reconstruction, if admitted to be feasible at all, demands little but common sense and Christian charity.
John Marr and Other Poems · Herman Melville · Chapter 1
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The common table utensil which is too frequently conveyed to the fountain, to obtain the thirst-slaking beverage, will ultimately become fractured.
Punchinello, Volume 1, No. 08, May 21, 1870 · Various · Chapter 1
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These two divisions, the northern district and the southern district, have thus no longer anything in common except in an administrative way.
The Dream · Émile Zola · Chapter 1